Have heard about these, and that some were supposedly built in the 1880s and converted to 30-06 in the 1940s or 1950s.

Already have read that original Spanish/Latin American Mausers (designed for pressures of the 7mm round) can be at the engineering design limits when converted to .308.

Have also read that some post WW2 Brazilian conversions to 30-06 were done with steel which was hard but brittle. Were all conversions to this caliber done after WW2, or were some done in the 30s or early 40s?

Brazilian Model 1907 and later rifles were built on Mauser 98 actions, and are plenty strong. Many of these rifles were converted to 30-06 in the 1950s after the USA brokered a peace deal in South America and agreed to supply military hardware and supplies.

The buddy who (lives three hours from here) will loan it to me for quite a while says that it was manufactured as a muzzle loader in the late 1880s, but I have no idea from where he received his information.

My question is - if the conversion to 30-06 Was done by the Brazilians - what type of action they used in it.
Maybe they were designed for the US Springfield rifles and some were sold to Brazil during or after WW2?

Brazil did not use Mausers before 1894, and most of those were removed from service before WW2 so they may not have been rebarreled. Model 1907 was the first Mauser Brazil issued (M98 variant).

Before Mausers, many South American armies used Comblain rilfes, but I doubt even the most sun-addled infantryman would opt to fire a Comblain rebarreled for 30-06. I have seen Remington Rolling Blocks chambered in 7X57 and 30-06, but I am not sure if Brazil had any of them in their arsenal.

FWIW, there just might be some confusion somewhere, and it might be an Argentine 1909 7.65 Mauser (98) rechambered to .30-06, a common practice in the 1950's, when cheap milsurp rifles were plentiful, but gennie ammo unobtainium.

BTW, some of the world's finest custom sporting rifles have been built based upon military 1909 Argies - it's the only military rifle issued with a hinged floorplate, AFAIK.

What you have is a Brazilian made Model 1908 rifle version.
Most of the 1908's were made in Germany by DWM and they're famous for their quality.
Later on, Brazil started making the rifles in Itajuba, and the quality wasn't as good.
By quality I mean the fit and finish, not the strength.

Originally, the Brazilian 1908 was chambered in the 7mm Mauser.
Later, rifles were reworked to 30-06 rifles because we gave them large quantities of surplus ammo.
Yours is one of the re-works.

In order to convert to 8mm Mauser you'd need a new 8mm barrel correctly fitted and head spaced, not a new bolt.
If you have a 30-06 rifle that needs a new bolt for some reason, you'd have to have the rifles head space checked and possibly the barrel re-set to correct it.
You SHOULD NOT just buy a bolt and put it in. The head space can be off enough that you could have an exploding rifle near your face.
The only way to know is to have a gunsmith check it with a head space gauge.

The later Itajuba rifles were more or less interchangeable with parts from the earlier DWM made rifles. Note that as always with old guns parts may need adjusting to fit and function correctly, and some parts may not work in some rifles due to wear of the rifle and the replacement parts.

For parts for your rifle, you can buy DWM Model 1908 or Itajuba 1908 parts, or in many cases, almost any large ring Model 1898 Mauser rifle variant parts can be used.

just want to make sure I was understanding everything so I made sure I was going to be safe, thank you for helping. my gunsmith is only around four hours a day and I havent been able the catch time with him yet.

so will any mauser 98 firing pin work in the 08/34.30 and what size barrel will work

"Most" Model 98 firing pins will work, but again, there are minor differences that may cause problems.

Most Model 98 Mauser's used the same barrel threads, but again, there are some exceptions.

Bottom line is, you have to know something about the various Model 98 actions.

If you intend to have a Mauser re-barreled to a cartridge not original to your specific model, you have to do some research to figure out what cartridges are compatible with that action.
As example, most rifles will need work on the magazine box and possibly feed ramp to allow using the longer 30-06 cartridge but usually work okay as-is with the .308

Landlord, the stamp on the right side of my actions front receiver does not read 08 they read 30-34 as in 30 Cal. converted in 1934, the rifle is unique and different and by some claimed to be suspect. I purchased 5 for $25.00 each, case bodies were still in the chambers of a few, no case head. Because I was informed they were suspect I used one barrel and one bolt to test fire all the receivers, switching receivers with one barrel and one bolt amounted to .001” difference in chamber length, the barrel was a Belgium commercial barrel chambered to 30 Gibbs with .110 case head protrusion. I used the configuration to form cases for the 30 Gibbs.

Suspect? the magazine is longer than the 98 type Mauser magazine, the floor plate is longer than the 98 floor plate, not necessary but when the rifle was configured the opening was increased by removing metal from behind the lower lug and that is the reason for the label ‘suspect’.

I am not the fan of fillers, I do not use Wheaties, Cheerios or grits (I like grits) I use a load that is going to form the case the first time I fire it. Because ‘time is a factor I used an ‘overload’, friends said “that is some scary stuff”, then there is the rust and pits on two of the receivers, still pondering what direction to go,

Barrels, the bores are a waste, but the chambers? Perfect chamber gages, with 62 chamber reamers I can not miss, the barrel chamber makes a different chamber gage than the ones sold on the Internet.

This email link is to reach site administrators for assistance, if you cannot access TFL via other means. If you are a TFL member and can access TFL, please do not use this link; instead, use the forums (like Questions, Suggestions, and Tech Support) or PM an appropriate mod or admin.

If you are experiencing difficulties posting in the Buy/Sell/Trade subforums of TFL, please read the "sticky" announcement threads at the top of the applicable subforum. If you still feel you are qualified to post in those subforums, please contact "Shane Tuttle" (the mod for that portion of TFL) via Private Message for assistance.

This email contact address is not an "Ask the Firearms Expert" service. Such emails will be ignored. If you have a firearm related question, please register and post it on the forums.